Our usual Mediterranean breakfast of fresh and dried fruit,
Egyptian pita bread and cheeses was very good. Some of us had eggs or muesli, but everyone enjoyed the meal. We found the
meals at the Cairo
Intercontinental Semiramis Hotel to be quite good.
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| Toulun Mosque |
We boarded the bus before 8 am and drove to the Toulun Mosque
in Old Cairo. This mosque was built in the 860s AD and suffered damages in the
fires in the 1100s and 1300s. This mosque is one of the oldest in Cairo and
still has over 6,000 people for prayer on Fridays. I was
surprised that mosques are very open and empty. There is just a place for the
Emam to deliver a short lesson and prayer and room for the people to come pray.
The pattern in the carpet throughout the mosque pointed the direction to Mecca.
Our guide, Eman, described a typical Friday service as being about 30 minutes
in length including a 15-20 minute lesson and a 10-15 minute prayer.
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| Toulun Mosque |
A significant feature of this mosque is the unique minaret which
has a helical outer staircase similar to the famous minaret of Samarra. It is said that a horse and rider could climb
this staircase.
The stone carvings and minaret at the Mosque of Ibn Tulun were
very beautiful, and we appreciated learning more about daily life as a Muslim in
Egypt.
We drove a short distance to some Egyptian Coptic churches in
Old Cairo: St.
Sergius Church and Saint
Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church, which is commonly called “The Hanging
Church” because it is suspended by beams. These are some of the area’s oldest
churches dating back to the third and fourth centuries. Since we were at the churches on Sunday
morning, services were underway. The service was in hieroglyphic spoken
language, and there appeared to be a number of people at the service. We looked
at the old mosaics and icons and watched as the priests delivered the service.
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| Cave under St. Sergius Coptic Christian |
The cave under Saint Sergius Church is reputed to be one of
the locations where the Holy Family stayed after escaping to Egypt shortly
after the birth of Jesus is next. The cave has been enlarged and modernized in
the over 2000 years since then, but it is an important site to the Egyptian Coptic
Christian Church.
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| Mosaic at the Hanging Church |
Saint Virgin Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church is called The
Hanging Church because it is built above a gatehouse. The church was built in
the Basilican style and is known for the beautiful ancient icons in the church.
There was an “antique market” outside the church that Eman
says sells items that are genuine and made in Egypt compared to many of the
vendors who sell cheap Chinese goods. We browsed the shop for some time before
Cindy bought small mother of pearl jewelry boxes and small stone scarab beetles
for her managers. We bought a wooden camel for Peter and a mother of pearl
jewelry box for Gran. Both seemed to be of good quality and should please everyone.
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| Inside the Hanging Church |
We walked up to the Ben
Ezra Synagogue, which was one of the only places today where we were not
permitted to take photographs. This synagogue is no longer used as a place of
worship, but it is an attraction based on the age and significance of the building
which predates 882 and is probably pre-Islamic.
The original building was likely destroyed in 1012 by an Islamic ruler
but was rebuilt when the subsequent ruler permitted around 1025.
We were impressed with the apparent harmony in which Coptic
Christians, Roman Catholics, Jews and Muslims coexist. Since the Coptic
Christian women are often veiled, it was impossible to tell the religion of
people by their dress.
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| Khan el Khalili Bazaar |
Our last visit of the day was to the Khan
el Khalili Bazaar where vendors hawk cheap souvenirs to tourists. Vendors
will want you to come into their small storefronts to purchase spices, replicas
of artifacts, traditional Egyptian clothing, T-shirts and other items. They will attract
your attention by saying things like, “I like the smell of your wallet,” “let
me help you get rid of your money” or “let me tell you what I have that you
need”. They were very entertaining, and several people in our group bought
things from vendors. One lady in our group even purchased a belly dancing
outfit that she says she will wear on the ship.
Although it looks much like a flea market found in any modern
city, the Khan
el Khalili Bazaar dates back to the 14th century.
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| Cairo at sunset |
We got back on the bus, and our driver, Emam, very
skillful in navigated the Cairo streets that were hardly wider than the bus.
He took us to a local restaurant specializing in falafel which was quite good
there. In fact, the name of the restaurant is Felfela. Our starter course was warm pita bread,
falafel and a variety of Mediterranean cold salads including tahini, pickled
eggplant and several others. We all loved the falafel, which was the best that
we have had since being in Egypt. We learned that Egyptian falafel, unlike
other middle eastern cultures, is made with fava beans rather than chickpeas.
The spices and included vegetables gave the falafel an excellent flavor and
texture that everyone in the group enjoyed.
The bus took us back to the Cairo
Intercontinental Semiramis Hotel on the corniche where we changed shoes and
prepared for our afternoon walk. Several in our group, including us, had to
have our room keys replaced since we couldn’t get them to activate the
elevators. That was quickly resolved, and we walked with our group that now
included Marcia and Jean.
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| Tahrir Square |
We walked over to Tahrir Square where the 2011
revolution began and looked at the monument being constructed there. In this
revolution, over 50,000 protesters occupied the area in support of the
revolution against President Hosni Mubarak’s policies, which resulted in Mubarak’s
removal from office. After walking
around Tahrir Square, we went back across the Nile and walked along the bank
until we came to the next bridge and crossed back to the side where our hotel
is located. We were out for about 75 minutes, which felt pretty good with weather in the mid 70s and sunny. A light breeze felt very nice. The
forecast for the days that we will be in Luxor and Aswan are predicted to be in
the upper 80s.
